And now....Live!

So I'm trying a new service called Livestream. I'm not sure how much I like it yet, but I know that I enjoy watching other artists on it and that it saves your videos for future viewing after the live session. I'm also going to post sped-up videos on Youtube.

I recorded this sketch last night and I think I need a new machine! I wasn't able to have a web browser open  and stream at the same time, even after pulling the quality down from HD to Medium....oh well, I'll figure this thing out sometime!

Here is the sketch I did for the GameArtBuddies blog I'm a part of:

Approximately 1.5hrs in PS CS5 using a Wacom Cintiq 21UX.

Here is the sped-up video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbMjCDgjsg0

My Livestream Channel: https://new.livestream.com/accounts/2655588/events/2015897

I'll be posting more to both locations with future work, so stay tuned! :)

iPad sketch

Had about 40 min waiting for a pizza, so I did this sketch in the Hard Rock Hotel Lobby in Procreate on my iPad, really digging this new brush shape. It's meant to simulate a pencil on edge, hard on one side and soft on the other. I ported over the brush tip shape from Photoshop and put a light texture on it.

 

 

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Some Process and Description

I tried to save out some process images as I worked. Truth is, I worked a bit fast on this one. Here are some descriptions from each of these images:

1. I was given this layout. Not the best, but passable. Clear direction, except they said they wanted "blocks like Stonehenge" forming a wall of ruins.

2. I guess I should've saved the quick line blockout I did initially, but I jumped into a value painting without finishing it because it was what I wanted anyway. I kept important elements on separate layers so I could continue to work with them later.

3. Using a few layers on "Color" blend mode as well as some curves and dodge layers for the lighting, I added initial color to the value painting.

4. Continued painting details, added foreground tree limbs to help the composition.

5. Refining Color

6. Final Painting before FX

7. Final Painting. I added a subtle overlay of uniform gaussian noise and an overall sharpening to unify the image. The lighting is preserved on layers above this.

Hope you enjoyed my brief description of this process!

-Matt

Composition Breakdown

I did some overlays to explain some of my thought process while doing my last sketch. Becoming more proficient at implementing the Visual Language is the whole reason I do these exercises, I love this stuff!

I hope you find this beneficial or interesting, please post any questions or things you think I could do to improve in the comments section.

Illustration Practice

A quick illustration exercise with a few WIP steps.

1) Basic composition, value, silhouettes
2) Vivid underpainting - trying this out as something learned from Shaddy Safadi's vids
3) Final painting!

Please feel free to crit! Hope you enjoy this small breakdown. There really wasn't much else to show...maybe next time I'll actually record it.

A few other tips about the process:

- In Photoshop, each shape in Step 1 is on a separate layer and opaque.

- The colors I chose in Step 2 are purposely complimentary to my anticipated final local color of that shape, or also the shadow color I wanted.

- Entire painting was done with 3 or 4 brushes from Shaddy Safadi's website.

Practice Makes Perfect!

...and I am NOT perfect! Here's another head study...maybe 2.5 hrs in Photoshop CS5 on an Intuos 4 using the technique I talked about in the previous post, and using James Kei for a style guide. Got a little ways to go!

iPad Head Sketch

Just another sketch on the iPad with Procreate. Doing heads lately to study up for an anatomy class I'll be giving at work. Used an interesting technique on this one, an idea I got from watching Shaddy Safadi's videos.

1) Silhouette in darkest value

2) On a new layer above the silhouette, use a lighter midtone to sculpt a 2-color rendering. This forces you to simplify shapes and place emphasis where it should be (on a head, this is the eyes, nose, and mouth)

3) Make a new layer in between the 2 values looser brushwork. I found myself putting values darker and lighter on this same layer, it was quicker and I think it works fine.

4) On a layer on top of everything, paint the lightest values and highlights

This method allowed me to have more edge control and maintain the value transitions while being able to use looser strokes where needed.

Shaddy used it in a landscape painting, and I thought I'd see how it went on a character. You should spend the longest amount of time on getting the initial two stages just right.

PS I need to work on likenesses, this guy doesn't quite look like my reference. So if you can guess who it is, you're amazing!